


Fool

by SeaWitch



Series: Kaunaz [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 06:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9309215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaWitch/pseuds/SeaWitch
Summary: Understanding comes far too late.





	

There was something amiss in the night. Albus stroked over fiery feathers as his oldest companion nestled fretfully against his shoulder. Fawkes felt it. Tonight, the world held its breath.   
  
Arm curved protectively around the phoenix – he almost laughed, as though Fawkes would ever need  _his_  protection – Albus made his way swiftly and silently through the drowsing castle. The children were safe – the danger was not  _here_. He quickened his pace, slipping out and securing the doors behind him, and turned his face to the sky. It was cold. Bitterly cold. It would be a harsh winter.  
  
Movement, black against black at the edge of the Forest caught his eye. Fawkes took flight with a keening wail. Death had come to Hogwarts.  
  
Drawing closer, the figure became distinct. The profile was unmistakable.   
  
"Severus." He called out, voice soft but piercing. Snape froze, as immobile as a statue. "Severus, what are you doing?"  
  
"What is mine by right." The formal response was equal parts despair and fury. Albus knew Snape's moods well, but this he'd never heard.  
  
Soft light bloomed from his wand, and his breath caught in his throat.   
  
She was cradled in his arms, red hair spilled over the dense black of his robes like a lick of flame. Snape looked up from his burden, squinting against the sudden light, and Albus was forcefully reminded of the near feral, intractable child that had arrived at Hogwarts. A child with hungry, wounded, fathomless eyes and a taste for the Dark that would never, could never, be assuaged.  
  
"Lily." Albus brushed fingers across her cheek but she did not stir. He looked closer. Even in sleep she was restless, a suggestion of fierce vitality boiling beneath the skin. But she was quiet. Still. Her cheek was warm, but she did not breathe.  
  
"James?"  
  
"Dead." The single word was bitter, but an odd, brooding tenderness was upon the younger wizard's face as he gazed down at his burden.   
  
"And the child?"  
  
"I heard that  _thing_  squalling, I assume it's still alive."   
  
"And you left him there? He's but a baby."  
  
"I don't care." Snape turned, and continued towards the Forest.  
  
Albus followed, what else could he do. He needed answers.  
  
"How did you find them?"  
  
"Felix Felicis. I overheard their betrayal, though I could not distinguish the voice, and I followed. But not quickly enough."  
  
"Severus, stop."  
  
"No." Snape swung around, features distorted. "We  _killed_  her."  
  
"Voldemort–"  
  
"Potter. His spawn. Black. Me." The last was hissed. "You too, old man. Don't think I don't know who pushed her towards Potter. The idealistic and glorious lies you whispered in her ear. Duty, love, fate, all lies to win  _your_  war. The Dark Lord challenged her, but would not have killed her if that  _thing_  wasn't there. Better to have hidden the creature and left her be."  
  
Snape turned and walked on.  
  
"Severus, give her to me. She should be buried with her husband."  
  
" _No!_ "  
  
The response was unthinkingly swift. Albus sailed through the air and landed with a thud several feet away, his wand thrown wide. Winded, he stared up at the younger man perplexed. None had disarmed him since Grindelwald. Even Tom had been unable to do it, despite the arts he had mastered.   
  
"Leave us be." The statement was soft, the threat underscored by power. "Leave us  _alone_."  
  
Fawkes appeared above the dark robed wizard, crooning softly, sadly. As Albus rose and reached once more for Snape, the phoenix snapped at his outreached hand and screamed defiance.  
  
Understanding had come too late.   
  
The vicious fights between them as children, and her inexplicable anger with James and his friends. Tears on her wedding day and a shattered mirror; the strain between Lily and Remus. Albus could see it all now, and cursed himself for a fool. It was not  _James_  that she burned for. It was not for good, or right, or any other idealistic notion that Snape had altered his allegiance.   
  
Albus stilled, and merely watched as Snape slid into the shadows of the Forest, Fawkes hovering protectively above him like a mother...   
  
The child. Albus snatched up his wand, and collected his scattered thoughts. Not for the first time he resented the anti-Apparition spells that wound through the school and grounds. Hagrid would be asleep, there was no use sending his Patronus with the urgent message.  
  
"Hagrid!" He shouted as he ran as fast as his elderly limbs could carry him. " _Hagrid!_ "  
  
The child must be saved.  
  
Whether _Severus_ could be saved was a different, and far more difficult proposition.

**Author's Note:**

> This is something of a companion piece to "Kaunaz" and "Inverse". Thanks to snarkyroxy and Ariadne for pre-post read throughs and their suggestions.
> 
> First uploaded to OWL these long ages past, where I wrote under the name indigofeathers - so don't worry, not stealing another author's words, just playing in JKR's backyard and putting her characters through the wringer.


End file.
